Monthly Archives: October 2014

Ok so am I the only heart dad out there whose kid (feeding tube or not) is kinda like the Borg from Star Trek? Yes…I went there. Growing up I LOVED Star Trek the Next Generation…loved it. I watched it every night before bed and watched all the movies. For those of you who are all like “Oh Lord here he goes talking about space ships and lasers and chew-tabacca,” hear me out for a moment. So in Star Trek the Borg was this alien hive mind, so to speak, who would pretty much obliterate other alien peoples and assimilate them into their hive, implanting robot parts into their body. Sorta like Pimp My Ride but with aliens…and body parts.

So where am I going with this? In Star Trek the Borg were by far the most fearsome enemy because they had powerful weapons AND they would acclimate to any weapons you threw at them. Shoot em with a phaser? Yeah it will kill 3 or 4, but then they would all acclimate and it wouldn’t work anymore. So you had to keep changing things.

Yeah, that is SO Nolan when it comes to eating. He’s like a little 20-pound Borg without the robot parts. I remember when we started this tube wean journey, he was tearing up some Banana-Mixed Berry baby food. That purple gloppity goop was his favorite, and I could get him to relatively eat the mess out of it. It became my go-to food whenever he wasn’t cooperating with something new. But then Nolan went full Borg and was like “Pfft…that don’t work on me, pops!” Then it got to the point where he flat-out refused to eat anything we gave him, even if it was like chocolate pudding or cheesecake. I mean C’MON SON, you gotta want that stuff right? Nope.

So there was a time there where we fought with him and he shook his head for everything we tried to give him. It was kinda like Star Trek First Contact (great movie, BTW). It was a struggle and sometimes you just wanted to jump out of your chair and be like:

But then…THEN something shook loose, and I honestly can’t tell you what it was. Now he’s back to eating a little better and even trying new things like crackers, mashed potatoes, peanut butter cheesecake, etc. And he’s not taking in any PediaSure at all, which is a major win. So why the change? No idea. Am I afraid he’s gonna go full Borg again…absolutely.

So tell me, Heart Parents: do you struggle with this? If so, how do you hold back the Borg invasion?

Hey fellow heart parents! Listen, we all know that life is tough with juggling our heart warriors’ needs, work, play, school, etc. So this post isn’t meant at all to focus on those things…in fact, today’s post is to help us all remember to take a step back and smile and laugh a little bit in spite of some of the challenges in our life. So let’s take a minute and think about the first time people (whether family, friends, or strangers) met your heart baby. You know people are well-meaning but at times their responses are….well…a little interesting. With that in mind I took the time to create something that I hope will make heart parents laugh just a little….behold: Heart….Parent….BINGO!

Unless you’re uber-sensitive, I’m hoping this little game at least makes you crack a smile. Now don’t get me wrong, this isn’t meant to offend the well-meaning, friendly people in our lives: God knows they’re trying their best. But come on: we’ve all heard some of this stuff, right?

So as you go about your week and you run into people who tell you things like “Oh he’s better now, right?”, instead of sighing, you can think about your BINGO board and check one space off. I’m a big believer that in spite of our difficulties there’s always a bright side.